Staff and PGR Update - 13 August 2020
Dear colleagues, The extra restrictions put in place for Aberdeen City last Wednesday (August 5) were yesterday extended by the Scottish Government. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced this lunchtime that the localised restrictions are to remain in place for another week. University response When the additional restrictions were announced last week, we responded by taking a series of steps on campus as part of our effort to curb the spread of the outbreak. These remain in place for the next seven days and will be reviewed by the Campus Planning Group at its meeting next Tuesday. As a reminder, a key part of our response to the local restrictions was to seek to minimise travel to campus as much as possible to protect our staff, students and the wider community. On-campus research activity and fieldwork There have been questions around what the local restrictions mean for on-campus research activity. To provide further clarity, this involves temporarily pausing the start of new research and pausing research that can be temporarily delayed without causing significant problems. On-campus research that is already underway, or research that cannot be paused without detriment, can continue as planned. Just to clarify also, that while fieldwork originating from Aberdeen, or involving travel to Aberdeen has been paused, fieldwork taking place elsewhere can still proceed as planned. Home working Before the imposition of local restrictions last week, we were receiving an increasing number of queries about when staff who can work from home will be able to return to work on campus. We feel it is important to be clear that under Phase 3 of the Scottish Government Route Map home working remains the default position for those who can. Moreover, under Phase 4, home and flexible working will remain encouraged by Government. This means that many of us will continue to work from home, or largely from home except for visits to campus to deliver in-person teaching or conduct research that can only be carried out on campus, for a considerable further period of time. Campus Planning Group is of the view that this will likely be until at least the end of the calendar year, and possibly well beyond that. This may be welcome news for some, but we recognise that others may not feel the same way. If you have any concerns about this, difficulties with home working, or any suggestions as to what might make the coming months easier, we strongly encourage you to discuss these with your line manager. Campus Planning Group is also putting together a procedure that will allow Heads of School and Directors to make a case for a limited number of additional staff to work on campus due to their personal circumstances, once the current local restrictions are lifted. In addition, a home working policy has been drafted and will go to the Policy Review Group shortly for further consideration and consultation. More details will follow in due course. In the short term, you are encouraged to continue to discuss any need for greater flexibility within your working arrangements with your line manager. In addition to considering further flexibility in relation to managing your workload, consideration of our own working practices is also important in trying to reduce workloads. It is important to remind ourselves of good email etiquette. Try to minimise the number of emails sent and consider the timing of sending emails and whether we really need to copy in multiple recipients. Consideration around the number of meetings we have, together with the frequency of meetings, is also important. In the meantime, can we please remind you of the importance of taking annual leave - ensuring you take your holidays during these challenging times is vital for health and well-being. Support Services Recognising that we are continuing to work in challenging times, a reminder of support services available. Our Counselling service is available to both staff and students during this time. We also have round-the-clock support through Care First. Staff can also use Togetherall - formerly known as Big White Wall - which is 24/7 and accessed using your University email account. Advice on mental health and wellbeing is also available at MIND. November graduations Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly given the current situation, we have had to take the decision to postpone our November graduations. Our graduating cohort were being informed yesterday afternoon.Eligible students will still be able to graduate in November and will receive their certificates by mail. This will be disappointing news for many, but we hope to be able to offer a graduation celebration at some point next year, for those who missed out in the summer as well as our winter ceremonies. Face coverings Due to changes in guidance from the Scottish Government and elsewhere, the University is revising its own guidance on face coverings as follows:
- Visors are not accepted as an equivalent to a face covering, as they do not have a seal around the mouth and nose
- Face coverings with valves are also not the equivalent of coverings without valves, as those with valves do not protect others due to the air exhaled out of the valve
- Face coverings will be required to be worn in libraries and reading rooms